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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Look, Kittens!

Okay, point taken. Enough people were irritated by my directly quoting a Burdastyle comment that I figured I should take my earlier post down lest I offend anyone else. One of the times I met Tim Gunn, he talked about offending some people through one of the Project Runway vlogs he posted. His reaction? He took it down right away, as he didn't think it worth the harm it was causing. Done and done. I often think of "Papa Gunn's" golden rules, so I thought I would follow his example.

Sorry for any offense caused! We will go on to discuss muslins another day.

For now: what do you think of kittens? Yea or nay? Please debate, but keep it civil.

LUV the kittehs!!!I have 2 Manxes -- Max (Unus Felis Maximus) and Fergus. They could not be more dissimilar temperament-wise. the only thing on which they agree is that they both want to sleep in bed with me, but don't want the other kitteh to sleep in bed with me.Just my luck: 2 guys are fighting to sleep with me - and they are both Eunuchs!

Hi I am owned by cats! I have 6 that think I belong to them. I have 2 that were raised from birth, 2 that we rescued and at each rescue they were about 2-3 months of age, 1 that came in our home one day and she decided she wasn't leaving and that was 6yrs ago. Now we have a cutie pie kitten that adores my husbands feet for some strange reason and when he gets home from work she's waiting for him,she's about 3-4 months old now. I have a huge spot for kittehs, they have me wrapped around their paws.

PS. I think the muslim discussion should be addressed cause it's the 1st time i've heard it be an issue. So looking forward to a later date discussion. :)

Oh, missed the post - sounds interesting. Kittens are gorgeous, who could object! My cat is a sensible 12 years now, so I guess the only thing difficult I remember is when she used to spring out and grab my leg - but it was still cute!

Just got a kitten, and I'm having a hard time keeping him away from my sewing machine while I'm using it. Something about the needle moving up and down always catches his eye ;) I distracted him with a thimble, but now I can't find the thimble.

I thought the muslin discussion was a great topic, and worth more discussion in the future!! However, as a commenter, it's frightening to think my opinion could be re-posted and harshly criticized in front of other readers, of which I am one :) Thank you for taking it down, but can we have more muslin talk later.

I'm sorry I missed the muslin post!When we got our little kitten 4 years ago we thought it would be really funny and ironic to name a cute little baby girl kitty Chuckwagon. Her full name is now Judo Chuckwagon Jones, and somehow she stayed pretty small and adorable! She loves to play fetch and give kisses. We just call her The Baby Judo now. :)

kittens, yay; muslins, nay. I did read the earlier post, took no offense, and I simply don't make muslins because I barely have time to make a pattern once, but not twice (whihc is sort of how I view muslins...)

Dang! I postponed reading the muslin post because I think it is a great topic and wanted to give it my full attention! I hope you do revisit the issue. I totally understand why you took it down, but I do hate when a few tight tushies spoil reasonable people's fun. The kittens do help alleviate my disappointment :D

I'm pro-muslin, and pro posts-about-muslins. Read the post, skimmed the comments, and all things considered, I commend you for taking the higher road. The view is always more expansive from the high road :)

Eh I didn't see anything wrong with it, I mean they posted the comment on the internet on a public forum. The internet is not private people! But I understand you don't want hostility on your blog.

Also: I just did a muslin for the bombshell dress and I think I love you! Haha seriously I have made muslins before but I'm self taught so I never really knew what I was doing, just snipping and praying really! And pictures and sewalongs are great but a video is so much better for me it seems. I think this dress will be the best thing I've made to date.

I caught the original post in my Reader. I failed to see what was offensive about it, but I will say that a lot of people out there are looking to be offended. The comment you posted was written in a forthright and opinionated manner and there is nothing wrong with that. I like kittens but I am a little sick of them and I don't think you should have taken the post down. The points raised were worth discussing. I have no idea who this Gunn fellow is, but I'm sure he is not infallible.

lol, Gerti! loved your post, sorry you decided to take it down. I honestly think you didn't have to, but it's a personal blog, after all. As the author of the original muslin post on Burdastyle, I did reply to the commenter directly there. What I don't understand why this whole muslin business has become so controversial - it's either yay or nay, as you say..

Missed the post and now I'm really intrigued at how people can get themselves all worked up over muslins!!!

Gosh but the world of sewing can be a prickly place sometimes! I only recently caught up with all the hoohah about the cultural insensitivy of some retro/novelty fabric designs that went down on another site, and now it's a furore over muslins here... Relax guys, I thought it was meant to be fun!

Dangit!! I didn't read the post right away because I didn't have the time to give it my full attention until now. I was really looking forward to reading it too!! Oh well, I hope you will revisit the topic soon.

Yay kittens!!! :D Makes me wish I had one. hehe! (I'm trying to talk my husband into getting a kitty in the near future!)

I didn't get a chance to comment on the muslin post, but I do want to say that I think it would be a useful topic to discuss in the future. I get a lot of emails about why muslins are helpful for some patterns (not all, of course). As someone who has been making muslins for a looong time (I started back to sewing as a teenager whipping up historic costumes, so muslins are a must, which is probably why I gravitate towards them. Bad habit!), I'd love to have a good discussion on the topic. Maybe in the future? ;)

Darn! I only just read the muslin post in my RSS Reader and was so looking forward to the comments. I always appreciate the extra insight from your readers in addition to the articles you post. So, shame on whoever said whatever it was that made you feel compelled to take the whole article down! But, I commend you Gertie, for upholding the spirit of constructive discourse.I do so hope you address the topic again.Also, kittens are awesome!

Oh, bummer! I read the burdastyle and Marina's tutorial pt. 1 on muslins with great interest yesterday. I wished I'd gotten to the computer earlier to see your post. This is the area I need to learn most about: muslins, fitting, altering/marking patterns.

And of course, kittens are the absolute best. I think one measure of quality of life is how many kittens you've lived with.

Kittens are adorable ...cats not so much..sorry. My boyfriend now husband came with 2cats & ended up with 4. They were nocturnal little beasts and kept me up at night ;) That was a long time ago. We now have an adorable dog named Gus who gushes love to me whenever I enter the room even if I only just left to get a glass of water. AND once the lights are out so is he!

Heh -- your attitude was a bit hard for me to grasp, as I deal in feminist bloggery and therefore am used to thinking of blogs & comments as battlefields. It's pretty awesome to be reminded that in some places on the web fistfighting is not the norm. AND ALSO TIM GUNN MARRY ME

I have an interesting question about your online course which I'd love to take. First of all, I think the course is going to be very useful and I am definitely signing up. That said, I have sworn to only make clothes that either can be worn at work or are significantly different to the items already existing in my wardrobe. Also, I don't like sleeveless dresses. It's just one of my body hang-ups; I don't feel comfortable in short sleeves or sleeveless clothing. So, I thought of making a sheer overlay dress on top so that the bombshell dress (with a pencil or wider skirt) underneath would be visible. The problem is now, that I need a another black cocktail dress like I need a hole in my head and also, a dress like that is certainly not useful for work. So Gertie, since you always have good advice to give, do you know of any inspirational (and obtainable) pictures of dresses that incorporate the bombshell dress but with some sort of sleeves? It can either be a dress (not black) for a special occassion or a dress for work (which can be black). I doubt however that it is possible to find the latter. I mean, since when did sheer and work go together?

Love kittens. Silly allergic husband means I can't have one, though. Grrr. I caught the post in my reader, but not the comments. I think it was fine, and I just had to delete a response to it from this comment, as I guess that defeats your whole point! I'd definitely be keen to see a discussion of the topic here another time...

I too fail to see what was so offensive about your previous post, but I read it in Google reader and missed all the comments. This is why we can't have nice things, people!

I will say that I'm thrilled to read some of the comments on this post - particularly Christi's. I've been on the fence about the bombshell dress class, because I'm a mom to two young beasties whose need for a bombshell dress is debatable. Like Christi, I'm also self-taught, so just going through the process of fitting and constructing the dress will likely be invaluable. And there are worse things than having to come up with a reason to wear a pretty dress!

I'm a dog person at heart, but I'll gladly coo over kittens and cats any day. In our house we refer to them as "cattens" because that's what my youngest daughter called them for the longest time.

Somehow I missed the muslin post which is odd as I check in daily. Honestly, what's the issue about discussing muslins (toiles in europe)? I can't imagine you offending anyone - except I think you should post a picture of a puppy to get the balance truly correct!!!

Kittens are adorable, but cats are my favorites; I always gravitate to the adults at the animal shelters when I'm adopting. It's kind of like my brain goes: "Oh, kittens, cute, but everyone wants one; let's go rescue a cat!" And I wander over to the grownups. Dogs are nice, but too attention needy for this introvert. I also like guinea pigs; though you have to be patient with them, and gentle too. Olga da Polga anyone?

Muslins, well, I'm just learning about them so I don't have much opinion on them one way or another.

I love your cute kitten distraction.Have you seen "baby monkey riding on a pig" on you tube? That is another great distraction. I'm not sure if I love the song or the video better..... I think the song.

I read the muslin post but not the comments and while it probably is better to appease the masses, I see nothing wrong with copying something that was on a public forum onto another public forum. Your comments were merely comments in response to hers that were in response to another post! Isn't that what blogging is all about!?

Have no idea what it was that offended but well you know the saying, you can't please all the people all the time :O)... I read that post didn't find a thing offensive in it. but then I am pretty much a live and let live ...everyone has a right to their own opinion kinda gal LOL :O).

Love how cute kittens are, but my heart really belongs to the doggies.

OH! Just realized I could see the post on Google Reader (um, I guess it's true that posting to the internet is like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.... once it's out there, there's really no putting it back in).

I support your decision to take the post down. But I still (ah-choo) hate kittens.

Kitties are da bomb. Puppies rock, too. My kitties complain when I am at the computer and they see pics of *other people's* kitties getting to help sew. My sewing loft is in our studio, so the kitties never get to "help". They are jealous.

Muslins depend on what I'm making. Wouldn't bother for a camp shirt. Would absolutely make one if using expensive(-ish) fabric for a garment that really needs to fit to look nice.

So far I am on muslin #4 for a wrapover halter top pattern (!) from Amy Butler. Gah! It does NOT fit. (and yes I measured myself...) I could have just drafted my own pattern faster. So this time, muslin = YAY for sure.

Don't understand why people get all crazy over other people's opinions though. Wish I'd seen the post. :)

I didn't see anything wrong with the muslin post. What's the difference between quoting a book or song or newscaster or the President on one's blog and then responding to said quote? If it's posted to a public forum it's fair game. One should never consider a comment on a blog to be a private conversation in any case.In any case, you could simply have paraphrased the comment you quoted and left the muslin post up. It's definitely an interesting subject, although I found the commenter's theory to be a bit ridiculous. There. I said it. People can be so touchy!But I do like kittens (who can also be touchy, but I love them anyway)!

Thanks for your support, all! For what it's worth, I don't think I was being bullied, I worried that I *was* the bully! I will put the post back up tomorrow with the quote summarized rather than copied and pasted exactly. I just couldn't think clearly in the moment so I took it down until I figured it out. :)

I would say you've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous with your new, impossible-to-offend post, but I didn't get to see the first one. I must say I am very disappointed that I missed it and I will have to get up very early in the future so I can view your posts immediately. I look forward to becoming utterly incensed by your future egregiously offensive comments!

Also I can't complain too much because I love kittens. And cats. All kitties all the time! Actually I am allergic so I don't have one of my very own, but I do love them and wish I could be a cat lady.

I don't see how anyone could get offended. There was NOTHING worthy of offense in your post - I'm assuming its the one about the muslin? As a beginner, I really enjoyed that post because I do the same thing, make it out of a cheaper, but nice, fabric first.

Gertie, you need to have an opinion, and have the conviction to back it up. If people are offended by that, its their problem. Really, otherwise what is the point of writing a blog? Just rehashing other mediocre points of view? If I wanted to read the same old generic stuff, I'd buy a book.

Love the kitteh's and I PI'd the 'original' muslin post because I was very interested in this myself, I'm a practicer, I'm all for it glad to know its an actual technique as my 17 yo daughter and I embark on some sewing, (we're making the bombshell together) she's big busted I'm big hipped it's going to be so awesome to have clothes that FIT..........yeah love kitteh's!

I think you are trying to smooth ruffled feather with kittens...you are mixing you menageries there!

I love that you have such an original voice. DO NOT LET YOURSELF BE BULLIED . This is YOUR blog. Attribute, apologise, correct and respect the original source but PLEASE, revisit the muslin issue soon. Love your style!Vavavoom!

I'm offended by Kittens...Just kidding. I too missed the apparently offensive muslin post. I'm curious as to how it became so bad you needed to censor yourself but I have done so on facebook because of heated discussion even though I didn't think what I originally said was bad, I deleted the discussion to protect the people who said dang stoopid stuff and might feel embarrassed for it to be there for others to revisit it :)

I got hit recently by someone who took offense at something I wrote *3 years ago*. Some people look for reasons to be P.O.'d. I saw a great saying that goes, "Remember, you don't have to attend every argument you're invited to." Words to live by. I put my post behind a password screen. We all love you, Gertie, don't let them get you down! :)

Oh, I missed the fracas! I do so love to watch a fracas. Anyhoo, I can't wait to read what you have to say about muslins. I made my first very recently,as I had never successfully sewn a garment to fit myself. It was a great help, and I will certainly do so for any future patterns that I need to alter.

Your blog has been a source of joy and inspiration to me for several months now. However, I have never commented, until now. I LOVE kitties!! In fact, my son's cat had 5 kittens 6 weeks ago! They are crazy sweet and so active. Every time I turn around there is one between my feet! The hard part will be giving any of these lovies away!!Muslins, never made one! And I have being sewing for over 30 years... Funny thing is, after reading Marina's post on Burdastyle, I decided I needed to try and make one!Missed your post, would love to read it though. Remember, you are not responsible for another person's words or actions. You are only responsible for yourself, and your kitties!!

I deleted my comment about wishing I had read the Burdastyle comment, and etc. I deleted it because I HAVE read it all. (I know how to use Google.) I don't understand why anyone got upset. I just don't get it.

yeah, I read the muslin post as well, and I didn't think it was offensive at all. I thought you & the commenter raised interesting view points. And the commenter left their comments in a public space, so I don't see what's so wrong with quoting them. I think you do an awesome job all around of trying to be inclusive, and non-offensive, while still sharing differing view points. That's one thing I love about you. YOU SHARE DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS. Some people take disagreements personally, when all it is is a differing view! I find that strange, since differing view points are what makes life interesting. Keep up the good work!

Gertie can you make another post about muslins (toiles) that doesn't reference someone else's blog so we can talk about it?I wonder if making a toile out of quilting cotton is the ultimate offence... ;-)Not a cat person. A toile person!I could make a joke about calico cats but not sure it would translate to North America terminilogy!

Dear Gertie, like so many who commented, I too postponed reading this post, because I wanted to have more time to read it thoroughly. I understand and respect your decision to take it down and I'm delighted you'll be reposting.I've just recently tackled bullying and negative comments on my blog: http://catspajamas-dogstuxedos.blogspot.com/2011/07/blogger-culture-dealing-with-negative.html and I am just irked by the nerve some people have. All comments should be respectful and polite, even when the commenter absolutely disagrees with the blogger.

My Google Reader doesn't have the muslins post, so I am in the dark about the specifics of Muslingate, but I just want to say that I think that switching to paraphrasing rather than quote is actually much worse.

When someone posts something publicly online, they're...posting publicly online. It is entirely reasonable for others to respond, and in order to respond clearly, and to represent the original poster fairly, quoting and linking is the most reasonable way to go about that. By all means be kind, be fair, be pleasant, when quoting or otherwise referencing people, but it's not reasonable for people to get Very Offended because public comments have been publicly repeated.

In my estimation, the situation gets hairier when you're paraphrasing someone - because then it's your representation of their words rather than their words - even if you're not naming names.

I saw your post which I felt was very interesting. I didn't think there was anything offensive about it. It prompted me to try a muslin next time I make something new. Ohhh... that's right, I signed up for your online course so I will be making one! ;)

I seem to have missed an interesting post... Too bad! :-) I LOVE kittens to death! But I love grown cats even more - they are so majestic and spoiled and beautiful and seem to be so calm and wise (but they're quite silly). They know how to live! Napping, relaxing in the sun, cuddling up on the couch, and using their human servants to the max.

How do I get an update whenever there's a new post...? Gotta figure that one out...

To muslin or not to muslin? I my opinion, muslins are a great way to experiement without ruining your fashion fabric. Think of it as a warm activity to the real event- like warming up before a big race rather than going cold turkey and getting hurt. In this case, your fabric may get hurt! I missed the controversial muslin post. Too bad. Muslins have provided me the opportunity to tweak a pattern before doing it for reals. Maybe you have a better method than the pattern directions - it is a great time to try it out to see if it works. I think it is worth the extra time and effort. Either way-happy sewing to you!

Wish I had read the controversial muslin post. Personally I believe you should have kept the post intact even if a commenter's response was negative. Sometimes negative comments bring to light issues I had not considered, regardless of whether I agreed/disagreed with the point of view. I don't expect all people to respond favorably to blogger's posts, so an occasional negative response is fine as far as I am concerned. I also agree with the problem of not directly quoting and linking and, instead, paraphrasing. As others have stated, when we comment on public forums, then we relinquish the rights to them. Other people are free to copy, reference them on them on their own blogs. Gertie, even though the post created an uncomfortable situation for you, it had a positive response in the bigger picture. Your posting and subsequent removing of the post had your readers thinking about muslins. We have discussed their benefits/cons, some have supported your decision to remove the post, others encouraged you to not remove it, and we all have appreciated the gracious spirit in which you responded to the "offending" issue.

You can't cater to unreasonable offense. Offense is the weapon of choice for censorhsip today. I am offended at people who get offended and shut other people up. They need to find something else to fill their collective pie holes.

I am sorry that I missed that post - I am a large busted petite and must ALWAYS make a muslin for any new pattern - even a simple blouse! (and all that after HUGE adjustments and length/back length changes)

I also LOVE!!!!! Kittens *grin*

Great kitten pic - made me smile in a way that will stay with me all day!